When modern medicine comes up short in determining why something hurts or reacts badly, many people are taking matters into their own hands -- and shopping carts. Stomach cramps, painful joints and skin eruptions are but a few of the myriad conditions folks seek root causes for.

Gluten, dairy, nuts, sugar and alcohol are the 5 biggies when it comes to the food groups people forego in the name of finding the trigger that ultimately ails them.

Is this a productive practice? According to the Wall Street Journal, "There is little science to prove specific cause-and-effect behind this style of elimination diet and an improvement in symptoms. Yet a lot of people report feeling significantly better." Could the power of suggestion be behind this? Perhaps. But it's debatable. As Linda Lee, director of the Johns Hopkins Integrative Medicine & Digestive Center tells the paper, people feel better but is it because "they are eating healthier or because, say, wheat was taken away?"

To get a handle on what's really going on, some doctors recommend a three-week elimination for patients suffering from asthma, sinus infections, digestive problems, joint inflammation and a few other symptoms but don't suggest it as a plan of action for everyone. For those who just have a general feeling of malaise, it's better, they say, to embark on a diet consisting of "high-fiber, multi-colored, whole foods."